Turning Tables

As soon as Zayn and Finley returned to the Motel, Zayn knew something was off. There was a second rental car in the parking lot. It could have easily been a coincidence but something assured him that it wasn't. So far his night had been awful and this only escalated his down-spiraling mood. He'd taken Finley to an early dinner but it had been a complete bust. The two made awkward conversation and Finley had become more distant then even he thought he'd been. She stared at her drink and pushed her food around her plate as if it were some game. They'd been there for an hour or more and Fin hand't taken so much as four bites before saying she was exhausted and wanted to go back to the hotel.

Now, adding the mysterious car to the list of shitty events of the night, Zayn was positively sure that things were about to take a turn for the worse. The car could have been anyone's from anywhere, but it was definitely a rental car. Coupled with picture of him that the girl from the diner had taken the day before, the car could only mean that four distraught or angry boys where there waiting for him. He couldn't know if they were in his room or not and he wanted to get away quickly, not to interact with the boys in any way. If they were truly waiting for him in that room, he'd have to leave his belongings behind. He didn't care but he feared Finley wouldn't understand. Still, wanting to avoid conflict, he steered her toward the main entrance rather than the stairwell that lead to their room.

"Where are we going?" She asked with mild interest.

"Uh," he paused and thought of a lie, "I want to set up a wake-up call. We have to check out tomorrow, we only paid for four days."

Finley nodded in agreement and let her boyfriend lead her into the horrid lobby with the cobwebs that hung above like branches ready to pull away the beauty of life and let it stick in their grasp. The man was behind the counter as usual and Zayn wondered briefly if anyone else even worked here. He shrugged and stepped forward.

"Hey, I'd like to set up a wake-up call for... Let's say, seven-thirty tomorrow morning? Would that be okay?"

"That'd be fine, Mr. Stellar," he said with a bored drone in his voice. "Oh, and your guests came to see you earlier."

"Guests?" Finley was first to raise the question, and her eyebrow. Zayn coughed and tried to look puzzled but he knew that four fifths of One Direction were sitting in their room now. He'd thought it as soon as he'd seen the car but now he was sure.

"Yeah, four young gentlemen. All with accents like yours."

"In that case, I'd like to check out now," Zayn said in a hurry. Finley turned on him immediately, eyes big with surprise and also anger.

"We're leaving?" She practically laughed at Zayn. She could feel the venom in her body start to raise, the pent up anger. She hadn't realized until that very moment how furious she had been with Zayn for not telling her that he wanted a break from the band. She wouldn't have cared but he flew her out to Arizona with false promises and was determined to keep things from her. She was furious. "And why the hell would that be?"

"I, uh," he tried to grasp for words to explain to her without giving her the whole truth. "Please, just trust me on this one. It's what is best for us."

"Best for us or best for you?"

"Us," he said determinedly. "Please, trust me. Come with me now and I'll explain it all on the way."

"I don't know, Zayn," she said with a frustrated sigh. "You've given me little reason to have faith in you recently. You're not the same guy I fell in love with."

"Finley-" Zayn choked out her name but was cut off with a sharp narrowing of her eyes.

"You didn't trust me enough to tell me the reason for this trip, for your weirdness, and even now that you have, I am quite aware that it is the whole truth." She run a hand through her bangs and let her cold palm rest against her forehead.

"I'll be honest with you, I promise," the dark haired boy pleaded. His big brown eyes seemed to be filled with both regret and fear. His gaze struck a heart cord in Finley and she couldn't help but want to believe him. She'd known him for what seemed like forever and despite recent events, he'd always been trustworthy in the past. She felt as if she could give him a final chance to come clean. She owed him that much. "You just need to get out of here with me, please?"

"What about our belongings?" She asked, not truly caring but wanting to stall this a bit longer, perhaps one of the boys might come down from the room and set everything to light. However, she didn't have luck on her side tonight.

"We'll pick them up in the morning," he looked over to the man, "I can pay extra if you could just leave them there for a few hours. It would help."

The man, who'd practically been oblivious to the entire argument, simply shrugged and flashed a greedy smile. Finley shivered and almost felt disgusted at how money could control one's life. However, that wasn't her problem at hand. She turned to Zayn and blinked hard. She gritted her teeth as she spoke. "I'm choosing to trust you, Zayn. This is the last chance."

He grabbed her hand and smiled at her, a smile that seemed more like the Malik smile she was used too. "Then let's go."

Zayn paid the man, and put an extra fifty with the payment so that their belongings would be looked after, and then the two took off into the evening air. It had grown slightly darker in the short time it took to check out and the air had grown thicker and colder. The couple got in their rental car and Zayn took off nearly as soon as he put the key in the ignition.

They sped through the town and took off down the first exit they came too and headed into the bleak, grassless plains that lie ahead. The road seemed to continue you with no hope of townships or cities in the distance. For now it was them and the open road.

"Would you just explain to me what's going on? Why are the other lads here?"

Zayn looked out of the driver's side window and gulped. He considered not telling her once again but that opportunity was too far gone, he realized. There was no way he could lie his way out of this one and in all honesty, he truly felt that Finley deserved the truth. "They came to bring me back to London, I assume."

"Why? If you needed a break, they should respect that, right?"

"They would," Zayn gulped, "If I were taking a break."

Fear crawled through Finley's body as if it were a thousand spiders, their tiny legs tickling her veins as they crept through her being and into her arteries and finally her heart. She felt sick for some reason she couldn't explain. What Zayn would tell her next would be a bombshell, she just knew it.

"What do you mean?" She asked slowly, fearfully.

"I'm not here to take a break from One Direction. We're here because... Well, because I have left One Direction. For good."